wired009 •
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There were a fair number of people who played the beta, myself included, who weren't overly impressed with the game. Play balance wasn't all there, limited number of units and unit upgrades, bad pathing and bottlenecks for melee units, etc. I'm not passing judgement on the game, it definitely is a huge improvement over SC1, just saying that sometimes it's not good to drink the Blizz koolaid. I'm waiting for my friends' verdict on the game before I pick it up. Reply0

After playing the beta for a few weeks, I'm finding SC2 to be lackluster. The game is too resource dependent, and racial strategies lack variety. There is hardly anything new that I wouldn't expect from SC1, which seems a shame given the time in development and the opportunities to evolve the RTS genre. Having played a lot of WC3, I miss the variety of tactics that arise from hero combinations and equipable items. WC3 also let you focus on battles more and less on constantly building miners and probes. Reply-1

You guys get so philosophical at the mention of art, it cracks me up. Don't think too hard about this one. Games are an art form because of the huge creative undertaking involved in making one. Creating a game world is a hugely subjective process based on the developers' vision of how they want the player to experience it. Most old school gamers have realized this since as far back as the Wolfenstein3D days(Give Mario and Sonic some credit too). Why do we care if it's recognized as art? It's partly a matter of social legitimacy. It also has to do with attracting money and talent to the cause, e.g. a talented composer like Zimmer. It's absolutely not true that something done with a profit motive can't be art. First of all, that obviously means you don't believe in games as art. Also, consider that all kinds of art, from live performance to exhibits in a museum, depend on the revenue they bring in to support their existence. Finally, if you have played a game like Half-life, Alice, ICO, God of War, Bioshock, Modern Warfare, or numerous others and you didn't see past the score or kill count, then you really missed out on the majority of the game experience. Reply+1

I think Valve is making some big marketing mistakes with L4D2. They are essentially releasing an expansion, and it seems to me they would stand to make more money by maintaining support for the first game. When you release a sequel, it usually puts a huge dampener on the previous title in the series. Why didn't they want to release L4D2 as paid DLC? Why didn't they want to release L4D2 as an expansion? Think about it. So instead of earning (price of game1[$40] + price of DLC[~$10-15]) or (price of game1[$40] + price of expansion[$30]) they will end up with (price of game 2[$50]). Releasing as a sequel kills a lot of the sales and marketing momentum that was generated with the first game, and as we have witnessed, alienates the fanbase (15,000 people buying expansions or not buying sequels is still worth a decent amount of money, however you want to look at it). You might say that Valve has nearly maxed out the sales potential for L4D1. I think they can still reel in a lot of new customers by bundling both games together. Releasing L4D2 as an expansion is really a smarter move that makes customers happy by giving them more content and still makes a lot of money for Valve, which some of the posters seems to care strongly about. Reply0

I love gow 1 and 2, but they really chose some boring footage to show at GDC. When devs show < 1 min long previews they want people to make snap judgements. What other kind of judgement can you make? The point is that they are supposed to leave a good impression. Also, don't know why people are dwelling on the graphics. They will be awesome even if you have no imagination. Reply0

It's not going to replace the controller anytime soon. I have always found the motion controll sensing on the Wii to be gimicky and short lived when it comes to the entertainment factor. Natal is an opportunity to create a few interesting titles, but it won't drastically change the way most people play the major game genres simply because in-game object manipulation is complex. Motion control is great for interfacing with menus, pointing, and short range movement but changing directions, moving over distances, simple repetitive actions, even cycling through inventory becomes a challenge compared with a few presses of a button. Reply0

I think the first Lips game was underrated. I really enjoyed many of the songs and the microphones are great. The UI was easy to use and aesthetically pleasant. The music videos were entertaining. You're allowed to sing as badly or as beautifully as you like with no penalty. There is definitely room for improvement, but one thing I disagree with the EG review on is the need for variable difficulty levels. Also, I don't know why Eurogamer would say the the follow-up is the same game when they haven't tested it yet and it's far from release??? Reply0

If you have ever used an iPhone or talked with people who use it a lot, you would realize how right Simon Oliver is. There is a really great library of applications that have sprung up in a very short amount of time that continues to grow at an amazing pace. It's a mixture of fun and practical apps that you don't normally find on any other portable device. Apple is very far ahead in the success of the adoption of their platform (to be clear, that would be mainstream smartphone) and developer and user support for it. Reply0

Dead Rising doesn't need multiplayer. It just needs more zombie slaying action. The first game was incredibly fun and remains one of the best games for the 360. The zombie theme might put some people off, but if you can't appreciate how awesome that game is there is something wrong with you. Persistent game clock, parallel missions, well modeled and interactive environment, good use of secondary gameplay elements (photography), etc. Reply0

I still stand by keyboard and mouse for RTS. With MMOs the issue is more about handling all the interface options and not speed of interaction. That can be resolved very easily by mapping actions to the buttons and allowing you to scroll through different button maps using the joystick button or shoulder buttons.
@des: "It needs to be sold with the console... "
Why?
@Freek: "Most gamers sit on a couch when they play with their consoles, they don't want these accessories."
Guitar Hero and Rock Band (not to mention corded controllers) have shown that you can play with cords a comfortable distance from the console. There's also wireless. So you still need a place to rest those thing, but people can get creative (pillow, lap, phonebook).
@N@: "have an accurate pointing device, a bit like the Wiimote, only more refined. "
Motion sensing devices are overrated. If they want to incorporate it into the controller, that's fine, but don't turn the Nextbox into a Wii. Reply0

The answer is so obvious, simple, and cost effective. Like spliffhead mentioned, all they have to do is support PC mouse and keyboard peripherals. They don't even need to design new hardware for that. Provide ample memory, and presto! RTS and MMOs for Xbox3. I wonder if it will play Blu-Ray. Reply0

WOW's auction system is a big contributing factor to the inflated prices and gold purchasing related to that game. Blizzard should take a hint from the EVE system by allowing longer auction times. It doesn't have to be months, but up to a week would be great so there can be some meaningful competition among sellers. Also, put emphasis on player crafted items to discourage everyone from farming the same things. The current crafting system is really uninspired (crappy rare items compared to drops, useless junk that is only good for skill points, little variation that would differentiate the crafter). Also, making players pay for game features like cold weather flying and epic mounts encourages ppl to purchase gold. They should do away with overpriced features/items and just make them quest rewards or use token/honor point style system where your points are account bound. Reply0

If you're used to PC rts, this game won't change your opinion on console rts. However, it's about as good as it gets for the console. Ensemble really put together a solid game. I played throught the campaign on heroic and you can use the same strategy to beat most levels. That really diminshed the strategy part of the game for me. To the game's credit the cut scenes are good and watching your vultures rip apart the enemy with the missle barrage is fun. Haven't tried co-op or multiplayer, but I bet they'd keep your interest a while longer. This game actually makes me long for Starcraft II. Reply0

I was thinking the same thing about the game rating from EG. AoC is supposed to be a decent game isn't it?! I haven't played it yet but have been meaning to because I like the Conan theme. Why didn't Funcom realize there was a major problem with combat during testing? It's been less than a year since it's release, but all these lack of content posts have me scratching my head. If the problems are really so bad, Funcom needs to overhaul the game before year's end and restart the marketing machine. Reply0

I think a lot of people are expecting to be able to transfer RB1 songs over to RB2, for free. Do you even know how many songs are available for that game taking into account downloadable contet? This isn't Guitar Hero 1 & 2. RB die hards invest a lot of money into the game. If the dev/pub decide to charge for the transfer, at least throw in a bonus track. Reply0

I was hoping for more from the D3 preview. The dungeon atmosphere seems to be there, but the enemies don't seem very interesting and main characters look goofy. I'll have a serving of Starcraft II and WotLK before I dip into D3. Reply0

Sounds like Lionhead forgot to give their staff the press relations side quest. Answering a question like that with such a specific answer is very dangerous regardless of the game. I felt Fable 1 main quest was too short, I hope they don't make the same mistake again. Reply0

Fable 1 on the Xbox was a pretty big let down. I enjoyed the story telling portions, but there was something missing from the gameplay.The combat, equipment variety, enemy variety, and morality scale were adequate but not compelling. Although it looks pretty from the screenshots, I'll be giving it a test drive before I make a commitment. Reply0

Some people are way too easily impressed. Copying games to the HDD isn't really some kind of huge improvement. Partial installs to save on load times and increase performance without eating all your HDD space is the way to go. Then there's queue'ing downloads from the PC...for all the people who leave their 360's on while they're at work?! Average person works 8-10 hours per day while there's maybe about 1-2 hours worth of download per day. That makes a lot of sense. If you don't download much in the first place, this feature is even less remarkable. Try starting a download before you eat dinner and take personal time. Now was that so hard? Come on MS, I'm still waiting. Reply0

This might be unprecedented for a console game, but I think they ought to release an expansion instead of a standalone game. At least allow people some way to utilize the entire song library and character progression that they've accumulated from Rock Band without switching disks. Also create a karaoke mode so that the singer can play without a rating. Playing on hard or expert modes as a band can be impossible when none of your friends can sing (or fake sing) like the stars. Reply0

'there is some difference, but most people look at it and say, 'I am not going to pay extra for that.'

I don't agree with Bach's statement at all. HD looks better than upscaled DVD, which is a fact. People are willing to pay extra for HD, which should be equally obvious: 1) Millions of HD-DVD and Blu-Ray players sold(including the PS3!!) 2)Proliferation of HD on cable services 3)Proliferation of HD televisions. It's really a matter of finding the right price and using the right marketing. Microsoft dropped the ball with HD-DVD by offering an a** ugly book shaped HD-DVD add-on that still needed its own power supply for $199. The exact same price as Toshiba's stand-alone HD-DVD and there was some issue with inferior sound output with the add-on. As for the marketing, what kind of message was MS trying to send by constantly saying HD and added disk space is not important. The product is a next gen game console of goodness sake! Nobody needs to play video games, but we love to because it's the latest tech, the latest games, something we don't already have, and we enjoy playing on our equally latest TV sets. They were shooting themselves and the HD alliance in the foot. Another side effect is that games this generation are shorter than before. R6:Vegas, Halo, and especially Gears are all fun but also feel very abbreviated. Reply0

I remember really hating wow when it was first released because of play balance, questing issues, underdeveloped group options, boring fighting/grind. I revisited the game a year later and it was hugely improved. When it comes to MMOs, there is really no rush to get involved. Wait a few months, let the bugs get resolved, let the launch month traffic get resolved, save up for a new rig if you don't already have one and you will probably have a very satisfying experience unless the game really blows. Reply0

we should all be environmentalists because we all live on this planet, eat the food grown from the ground or pulled from the sea, and breath the air. toxic compounds in electronics has long been a problem in the industry, and there are people working to solve these problems. even the workers and plant owners who manufacture the electronics aren't thrilled to handle toxic agents all the time. there's nothing wrong with advocating cleaner electronics. there are already reduced toxic compound parts available, so it is a matter of awareness to make them common design choices. when you consider that tens of millions of consoles all over the world, it really does add up. what happens when we throw them away? it's not hard to imagine that trashing the planet will eventually catch up to us(already is). gamers should be responsible by recycling electronics, picking well designed hardware, and saving power from time to time. Reply0

touche. at this time the only reason i'd buy a PS3 is to use it as a blu-ray movie player. state-side it costs 500 versus 400 for a dedicated player. both are still expensive which is why i have not bought either... even though i want a hi def player. is it too late to resurrect HD-DVD? to be fair, 360 build quality leaves a lot to be desired. my friend's 2 year old xbox console finally saw the red ring this month. Reply0

Things that I'd like changed in wow: Some of them have been addressed.
1) World PVP so that is has purpose. BC had some good ideas but the objectives and rules for some of the matches were boring. Auchindoun Tower Control is one of the better implementations. Aloow other ways to earn/create PVP gear besides arena.
2) Auction House time limits. Get rid of them.
3) Info on at least one other hero class. It's been a year and it's still just Death Knight?
4) Redesign the highly inefficient layout of blood elf capital.
5) No charge on expansion packs. Reply0

I'm sure the industry will be glad to have you as a poster child for people who got ahead while playing lots of video games. Just make sure not to mention that you didn't buy half of them...Lol. Reply0

"Logic like that will simply result in there being less gamers."
-Exactly.
"Which will result in even fewer sales... saying that poor people shuld simply adopt cheaper hobbies is not going to get more people buying games..."
-Did I actually say that? Poor people should play less video games;ok, no one is advocating banning them from playing. Poor people might buy fewer games, that's reality (or not because that's what credit cards are for). Everyone should still avoid pirating, obviously I don't agree with your fewer sales argument.
"I think that if you truly cannot afford to buy a game (or music or media - whatever) then pirating it will not result in the loss of revenue for anyone - and it may result in more revenue in the future if that person reaches a point where they can afford to pay for that media."
-Logic like that will simply result in people who are never able to get ahead.

PS: I know I refer to poor people as "them" but I fall into that category too tbh. Reply0

Unless you are a ten year old with no money there is not much reason why you shouldn't pay for games that you actually play. If you can't afford to play games, then you should be doing something more useful with your time. There's a reason why there are such things as game demos and friends...so you can try games before you buy them. Any real gamer knows that we are voting with our money. If we feel no obligation to support good developers, then the games that we enjoy disappear. That's why the PC gaming platform has been suffuring so much in recent years with exceptions of a handful of franchises. If developers don't create content for the PC then consumers have no reason to buy hardware. Nvidia understands this and that's why they are against piracy. Reply0

I'm all for X360 + Stand-alone Blu Ray player setup when the price comes down. I've stopped buying DVD's for years now. Online/mail rental services are the way to go. Way more affordable than buying hundreds of solid media and wasting space in the living area. I can watch anything. Split the cost with friends and it's one of the best deals. Netflix is already pioneering monthly subscription based downloadable movie access and I feel that this will be the next market direction. Else, something similar like one time purchase for unlimited streaming access. Reply0

360s have been fairly reliable for some time now. I have four other friends in different parts of the world with 360s who have owned them between 1-2 years and there have not been any rrods. Funny thing is, one friend bought a PS3 during X-mas for the 7-9 free BDs, played some GH3 and COD4 on it and now it's in the shop. Point is, reliability is too unpredictable to use as factor in purchasing this gen consoles. If you like 360 you should buy a 360. If you like Ps3 them do likewise. Reply0

Classic problems with EVE. It does have an unecessarily steep learning curve. There ought to be better documentation by the dev on different game play options. A lot of the literature on the website is generalized and leaves you to figure everything out on your own or constantly ask other players, who themselves may not always have the answer. It's not an efficient system. The time investment involved is also too high. You can't really have meaningful, short game experiences like you can in most other games. This is one of those games that you really shouldn't get too involved in for the sake of your personal well-being. It will drive you mad from the constant "I wish this gameplay element was done some other way" moments. If you can afford the time and money. I would keep your character training going so you will have access to the right items when the time comes, and play another MMO as you wait for initial training skills to complete. After a couple weeks to a month of doing this you will have a much easier time accomplishing basic operations. Reply0

There is no point in making an integrated HD-DVD playable xbox now. Blu-Ray seems poised to win the format war at this point, which is actually great news for everyone. Most 360 owners don't seem to care about the add-on player (If they did HD-DVD would be much more popular) so MS should just get ready to release a Blu-Ray add-on player instead and we will be done with it. Reply0

As someone else mentioned. IPTV isn't exactly movie downloading because you don't need to keep a copy of the entire feature on your local device. It's streaming video to your console and it's all about content on demand. This feature would be really cool if they offered free content or unlimited use with purchase of some media. In the near future all your cable broadcasting will go IPTV. Reply0

I remember the launch of the 360 pretty well. The premium system was in high demand. People settled for the Core system because the quantities were so limited at launch. Ebay prices for the system went at high as 3x the system MSRP. Really, MS could have included HD DVD with a higher price tag for the system and people would have bought into it. The reason the PS3 has been selling at a disadvantage to the other consoles is that the software is lacking. Bottom line is that the games must be fun to attract the customers regardless of the media format. When MS comes out with an built in HD DVD 360 it will just be a matter of production cost whether games will appear on HD disk. Reply0

At this point in the PS3 lifecycle I feel that it is primarily Blu-Ray movie player and games console second. I believe that the movie playback functionality will keep the PS3 afloat until the AAA games arrive. In this respect, the PS3 has more value to me than Wii. The Wii is just the Gamecube of this console generation in different form(removed proprietary disc format, redesigned controller, simplified appearance). It's not bad but i haven't been blown away by anything on the Wii yet.

@peanut: It is highly unlikely that MS will ever release a BR player for the 360. First, I don't think they intend to lose the format war. Second, by the time a sole format is pronounced the winner we will probably be on another hardware cycle. Reply0

I agree with Braben. Whether his game can live up to his big talk is another matter. Bioshock has good art direction and narrative but the gameplay is not very exciting. Halo 3 is pretty much Halo 1+2 with improved graphics. Dead Rising really blew me away with the branching story, time constraints, and RPG elements. That game is still tops of the current gen in my book. Guitar Hero is second for taking the rhythm game genre to a new level of immersion; definitely next gen gameplay on last gen hardware. R6 Vegas is my third choice for the awesome strategic gameplay and intense multiplay with persistent characters (just not enough maps). Everything else to me really feels like been there done that...sorry Wii fanatics. Reply0

People who paid so much extra money for Legendary should at least get a decent set of cut scenes that don't have artifacts. I learned my lesson to never buy special addition games again after Halo2.

Underdeliver seems to be the trend with Halo3. Anyone else feel like Halo3 = Halo1 campaign + Halo2 multiplayer with updated graphics? The reason I say that is how your objectives usu seem to be to run from pointA to pointB without any interesting twists in the the gameplay. I pretty much runned and gunned my way through heroic. Then there were the jungle levels that felt like the snow levels, compound hopping, a short beach drive, a short aerial battle, flood infested location, obligatory tank segment thrown in there somewhere, and of course the last level. Really felt like Halo greatest hits to me. I think I still like Halo1 campaign slightly better.

Also, after watching all the adverts for Halo3 you kind of expect to fight some dramatic large scale battle against losing odds. You hardly ever run out of ammo if you plan a little bit, you usually don't fight with more than a handful of UNSC troops, you hardly ever play on the defensive, most of the time the aliens are the ones getting worked. I think they could have made better level sequences. There could have been a stealth mission, an escort mission, a battle situation that you can't win, alternate routes(a choice between path A or path B ea. with different challenges and consequences), etc. Reply0

Some of you may not be aware of it yet, but sex is actually a common activity among adults. So you have the chance of a sexual encounter in an M rated game where you play as an adult character. I don't think you can jump to conclusions (as some people in this thread obviously have) about the maturity lvl of the game or the player without knowing the context. The inclusion of sex in Mass Effect probably won't be a deciding factor in whether people choose to play the game anyway.

Also, the big deal about the Hot Coffee mod was not that there was sex/nudity in the game. It was that it was included as a hidden part of the game that the ratings board was not aware of. As long as you declare the content of you game when it is being rated there shouldn't be any legal problems. Take the God of War sex mini games as examples. Those were totally legit. Reply0

There's not much point in logging in before the release since the majority of players do not have the game yet. People who want to explore the maps should be able to do that offline anyway. So for people who are playing it ... is it worth lining up for or what? Reply0

They should've made it a real documentary about how they made the set for the promo. No need for all that fluff about using UNC personnel records and battle accounts. Or... if they wanted to get us really excited, they should have given a short narration of the battle as though giving a historical account, then faded from a shot of the replica set to an in game render of the battle occurring on the 360. Master Chief runs by the camera and tells us to believe. That's how you make a comercial folks. MS, just hire me for your marketing next time. Reply0

Looks like a good sequel. Minor improvements here and there. Weapon and spell selection can now happen in real time as I had hoped. Life regen feature is a helpful touch. Not sure if I like the return of the ninja techno music. Reply0

Ninja Gaiden 1 on the Xbox was not a perfect game but the combat was a lot of fun. Didn't like the useless first person look feature, the item menu that made you pause to use potions, the weak shuriken, or the tacked on plot. Did like the visuals, controls, cool ninja combat, and huge bosses. Hopefully NG2 will fix all NG1 faults. Reply0